Earlier to day, Google launches Knol, a unit of knowledge. In one sentence, a knol is an authoritative article about a specific topic. Conceptually it is very similar to Wikipedia, as it is yet another platform for sharing articles about specific topics.

Unlike Wikipedia, Knol holds authors accountable for the articles they write. Each articles are known as a ‘knol’. Knol authors take credit for their writing by providing their credentials to identify him or herself. This is done by disclosing credit card number, phone number or anything that can be use to validate real names.

Each articles are either created by a single author or a team of author collaborating. Other users can submit changes, but they have to be approved by the article’s original authors, before any changes available to the public. It’s a more moderated Wikipedia.

Google says that they encourage multiple people to create articles on the same subject. This gives a certain subject views from multiple perspective. There will also be a ranking system where users / readers could rank an articles. The whole platform relies in the wisdom of crowds.

An interesting note on Knol platform is the monetization opportunities. According to TechCrunch, each authors could participate in revenue sharing program by including Adsense with their articles.

This will work. Since its Google we’re talking about here. It is fairly easy for them to have Knol articles ranked first in Google search as opposed to Wikipedia entries which most of the time has a high ranking in Google search. But that’s just evil, and Google don’t do evil.

Currently there is nothing much on Knol. Right now the articles varies from Lung Cancer to Backpacking to Toilet Clogs to Devil Me Cry 4.

As with all Google’s beta service, the design looks like crap, aesthetically speaking.

As for the question of whether Google’s Knol will be a Wikipedia killer, I’ll leave it to this Knol article entry on Wikipedia.